Bullpup girls second, boys fourth at AVCTL track and field meet

The McPherson High girls track and field team finished second, while the Bullpup boys were fourth at the AVCTL Division III meet held at El Dorado Friday.

Chris SwickSports Editor

The McPherson High girls track and field team finished second, while the Bullpup boys were fourth at the AVCTL Division III meet held at El Dorado Friday.The girls were just below MHS coach Jace Pavlovich’s prediction, as they finished with 135 points to Winfield’s 168. It was the first girls track and field league championship in at least 37 years, according to the Winfield Courier.“We did well competing in some nasty weather,” Pavlovich said.Leading the way for the girls was freshman Morgan Howard, who claimed double golds in the triple jump (32 feet, 7 1/4 inches) and the 100 hurdles (16.59 seconds).Other first place finishes for the Lady Pups came from Megan Pedersen in the high jump (5 feet) and Bri Cooks in the shot put (37-7 1/4).Buhler was third in the team standings with 93 points, followed by Rose Hill (74), El Dorado (57) and Mulvane (22).On the boys’ side, Rose Hill claimed the league title with 139 points, followed by Buhler (122), Winfield (109) and McPherson (87). El Dorado was fifth (51), followed by Mulvane (46).The only gold medal claimed by the boys came from the 4x100 relay team of Dylan Shook, Collin Harvey, Taylor Kynaston and Chris Stoppel.The Bullpups exceeded Pavlovich’s expectations, as he had estimated a fifth place finish for the hobbled Pups.“Our boys are still trying to recover from injury,” Pavlovich said. “We have some key guys not competing today.”Despite some new faces, the Bullpups did pick up a number of silver medals, most notably Keshawn Sewell, who returned to competition with a second place finish in the triple jump with a distance of 39 feet, 11 inches.The Pups have a week to rest up as Regionals will be held May 23. McPherson will take part in the Abilene Class 4A Regional along with Buhler and Smoky Valley beginning at 3 p.m.